West­pac Fiji show­cases iTaukei cul­ture

West­pac Fiji show­cased Fiji’s iTaukei cul­ture via video con­fer­enc­ing to their West­pac Sin­ga­pore, Shang­hai and Hong Kong Of­fice col­leagues. These col­leagues were sit­ting in West­pac board­rooms in their re­spec­tive coun­tries this week. This spec­tac­u­lar event was the out­come of the part­ner­ship be­tween West­pac and the Min­istry of iTaukei Af­fairs. West­pac Fiji, gen­eral man­ager Brett Hooker wel­comed ev­ery­one in the tra­di­tional Bula spirit. He pro­vided a bit on the back­ground on West­pac’s his­tory in Fiji and how Fiji is a multi-racial, multi-cul­tural na­tion with a very di­verse yet co­he­sive work­force. This, Mr Hooker said is based on re­spect for each other’s cus­toms and tra­di­tions. The staff of iTaukei Lan­guage and Cul­ture Unit un­der the Min­istry of iTaukei Af­fairs took the vis­i­tors through the iTaukei cul­ture and per­formed the tra­di­tional yaqona cer­e­mony to Mr Hooker and guests. The cer­e­mo­nial process was ex­plained on the video con­fer­ence. After the yaqona cer­e­mony, a few iTaukei songs were sung and the fa­mous taralala dance was per­formed. The au­di­ence through video con­fer­enc­ing en­joyed and clapped their hands to the beat.

Tra­di­tional Fi­jian fish nets, traps, cloth­ing and other her­itage arts were show­cased and the au­di­ence was ex­plained on their make and us­age. Also Fiji’s fa­mous farewell song was sung in clos­ing and there was a strong sense of pride in the rooms across the lo­ca­tions.